Cliff notes
by 10th Muse
Summary: A story in honor of 9/11. The BAU honors CSI-NY's Mac Taylor, inviting him to a case, tasking Emily to pick him up but Det. Don Flack had a other plan for the two of them. Will they get to their objective?


I do not own any characters from the TV series Criminal Minds or CSI-NY. They belong to CBS. Dang.

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.In Honor of 9/11/2001.

 **Criminal Minds**

 **One Shot – Cliff notes**

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Quantico, Virginia.

They sat before the large screen in the 'war room'.

Their focus was on only one man; Mac Taylor, he was reading her name...Claire Conrad Taylor.

With that, he stepped down and left the large gathering, walking away quietly.

Mac was not like the gathering throng, he preferred to be left alone; he had done his part, he came and that was more than he could do for himself, and Claire. He was soon in his car as he picked up his cell phone and a bottle.

In the meantime, Hotch turned the screen off and nodded towards the conference phone, "Mac, you there?"

 _Yeah, I'm here._

The team picked up their bottles, uncapped and raised them and said in unison, "To Claire."

With a nod from Hotch, they took a drink; it was Claire's favorite soft drink, Cherry Cola.

 _Thank you guys._ Mac said.,

"It's all we can do, Mac." Hotch replied.

 _It's appreciated, she will appreciate it._

"How's it going?" Rossi spoke up.

 _The same, I'm heading back to the department._

"Mac, we have something that might interest you." Hotch said.

 _What do you have, Hotch?_

"A case nearby, in Feytown. we're on our way to your neck of the woods," JJ smiled. "We need your expertise and your eyes."

 _Sounds interesting. Meet you guys at the airport?_

They grinned, "Actually, Emily's already on her way to your city. ETA is an hour or maybe less, depends on her driving." Rossi shook his head as he added.

They could hear surprise in his voice, _Y_ _ou guys don't waste any time, do you?_

"Emily's anxious to see you again, Mac." Morgan teased.

A slight paused before he answered, _Er...the last time we met, she almost shot me. I wouldn't_ _say she missed_ _me._ _But you've got me for the day, I'll_ _notify_ _my team._

They laughed.

"Thanks Mac, we owe you one." Hotch nodded.

 _Just a dinner later will do, guys. I'll see you, and again, thank you._

"Semper Fi." This one from Rossi.

 _Ooh-rah_ _._ He replied before they heard the click.

"Okay, let's go. Jet's fueled and waiting." Hotch nodded to them as they stood up with their go-bags.

…...

Mac was slightly surprised to see the familiar non-descript dark SUV pulled up by his side as soon as he parked his car at the Crime Lab parking lot and got out.

Removing his shades, he raised his hand slightly to greet her while she lowered the window.

"Hey Mac." She leaned over and greeted him with a smile.

"Hi Emily, did you break every speeding rule?"

Her grin widen, "Nope, just the sound barrier. I think I just beat Andy Green's."

He shook his head, "Only you BAU geeks would know all these facts but in order to do that, you'd have to go over 763 mph, and that's impossible on I-95 on the way here."

She chuckled, "Now who's the geek? Let's go, traffic is nuts right now."

He nodded as he opened the passenger door handle and hopped in, "It's a sign of good faith that I'm trusting you to drive." He hooked on his seat belt and turned to her with a look. "Just in case."

She shook her head, "Ye of little faith."

"I've heard of your driving history from Agent Morgan and Dr. Reid, and they are pretty scary."

"Huh!" She huffed. Then she frowned, "Oh, great, if it isn't Gumby waving at us...Can I run him over?" She was staring in disbelief in her rearview mirror.

Mac turned to look at the side mirror and shook his head, "What does he want now?"

Emily groaned. "I hope he's not gonna propose again."

Mac raised his eyebrow at her, "Propose?"

"It's a long story." She sighed.

"I want to hear about it." He cracked a smile.

"No, you don't."

They heard a couple of raps on Mac's side of the glass window, he pressed the button to lower his window, "What're you doin', Flack?"

"Where're you headin'?" Flack was trying to catch his breath.

"Feytown. Courtesy of BAU." He pointed in Emily's direction.

"Mac, don't!" Emily tried to stop him but it was too late as the look in Flack's eyes...

"Oh hey, it's my future wife! Hi Emily!" Flack smiled. "How are ya?"

Not looking at his direction, Emily mumbled, "Go away, Donny."

Flack turned to Mac, "She missed me." Turning to her. "Hey sweetheart, what say you and me poppin' over to the court house and do the deed? Make an honest man out of me?"

Mac began to chuckle.

Emily snapped her head, "Flack, there's not an honest bone in your body."

He shook his head, "But once you're married to me, I'll change. Honest."

She snorted.

"Did she snort?"

Mac shrugged, "I don't think I want to get involve in this lovers' quarrel."

"Mac, there's no lovers' quarrel in this!" Emily glared at him. "Go away Flack, we have a real job to do!"

"Wait, that's what I'm here...Mac, PD got a call, we think we have a lead on the Joey Dowell murder case."

Mac thought for moment before he replied, "How solid is the lead?"

"He's a person of interest for the moment. Mac, he's our only lead for the moment."

Mac was about to reject when Emily cut him off, "How long is this gonna take?"

Flack shrugged, "POI's apartment is a couple of blocks from here. Shouldn't take but coupla minutes."

Emily turned to Mac, "The team is not due to land till noon, that's giving us two more hours."

"Plenty of time to question the suspect and get you guys out of town." Flack prompted. "And I get to spend more time with my future sweetheart." He grinned at her.

Emily rolled her eyes, "Don't make me change my mind, Donny."

He held up his hands, "I'm joking."

Mac turned to her, "Your call, Emily."

She pulled out her cell and quickly made a call to Garcia. A minute later, she nodded to Mac, "We have some time, the team are still at the airport in Virginia, mechanical problem."

"Yes!" Flack fist pumped in the air as he hopped in the back seat. "Okay, here's the address..."

…...

Fifteen minutes' later, Emily, Mac, and Flack were chasing their person of interest, Benny Guzman all over the neighborhood, their weapons drawn.

"Give it up, Benny!" Flack called up as he was leading the chase with Mac and Emily following. "We've got you!"

"I told you all you want to know, blue!" Benny yelled back as he continued to run along the alley as he knocked down trash and cans to hold them. "I have nothing to tell ya!"

"Then why are you runnin' from me, you piece of shit!" Flack continued.

"I dunno! There's three of you and I'm scared!" Benny's scared eyes turned to Flack before he continued to run.

"This is fuckin' stupid!" Flack called out. "Benny! Stop!"

Emily was pissed, "Does this happen often?"

"Oh yeah...all the time!" Mac grinned as he followed behind Flack, making sure he wouldn't lose sight of them, as well as Emily was following him. "Why do you think we're the only two fittest in the department?"

Drawing another needed breath, "Not funny, Mac!"

"It's not meant as a joke!" He pushed a huge box aside, allowing him and Emily to pass through before continuing.

As soon as they passed the big box, they found that they had lost Flack and Benny!

Looking around, they were in a wide, dipiliated alley with tons of weeks' old trash.

"Shit!" Emily uttered, "Where could they be?" She turned about her, keeping her eyes peeled for movement.

Mac nodded to her right, "I think they went inside there." he pointed towards a door. It was ajar.

She began to head towards when Mac stopped her, "Wait. Don't move..." He whispered in her ear.

She nodded and stopped, keeping her eyes at the door.

Suddenly, she heard rustling near her boots and tried to glance down without moving her head. "Mac...what the hell is that?"

"Shh...I don't know but best guess it's a snake."

Her eyes widened, "What? Here, in New York City?"

He couldn't help but chuckled.

"It's not funny! I hate snakes! Do something!" It was then she began to feel it moving around up her leg. "This is getting better and better. Mac..."

Mac's eyebrows were shot high up as he was trying his best not to laugh, "Um...that's quite a big snake. Oh, great, it's winding aroun me, too."

"What?" She exclaimed. "How many are there? Is it poisonous?"

He shook his head, "No, I think it's a boa constrictor."

She closed her eyes, "Can you please remove it?"

He began to assess their situation, "Well, I don't want to startle the fella. He might bite...I mean he might not be defang or something like that." Mac reasoned.

The boa continued to move upwards, it had reached around both waists.

"Oh my god! How frigggin big is he?" She sounded panicky.

"By the look of it, he looks to be around 7 to 8 feet so far, but I'm not seeing his tail yet, it's still covered by the rubble."

"HEY!" They were startled by Flack's shout. "What's going on here? Mac, you stealin' my gal?"

Mac turned and saw him at the entrance of the alleyway; he had Benny in handcuffs.

"Please tell that fool to get help." Emily begged as she slowly turned her head but all she could see was Mac's face up close.

Mac, "Flack...this is really serious. Call a Wild Life preservist or something, will you?"

"Whoa, did you know there's a really big snake crawling around you two?" Flack called out.

"Snakes don't crawk, Flack! They slither! Just call those snake handlers, will you?" Emily uttered in exasperated tone as she stared into Mac's eyes.

He grinned at her, "See what I have to deal with every day?"

"Glad it's you not me."

"Hey Blue..." It was Benny yelly. "I...I...hate snakes! Get me outta here!"

"Relax will ya, Benny?" Flack laughed at him. "Maybe I'll take you closer to the snake, get you to talk."

Benny shook his head, "No! I told you, Blue! I told you everything!"

"Flack!" Mac called out. "Will you get Benny out of here! The snake is getting pissed!"

"How do you know?" Flack called out, turning his attention to Mac and Emily, and the snake.

"Oh my gosh, it's creeping more at us, can't you see?" Emily hollered. "I'm gonna kill you as soon as this is over! Will you get the snake people!"

"For you, my lovely? Anything...just er, hang in there. And Mac? No, hanky panky with my intended."

Emily could hear Flack's signature laughter from her end of the alleyway, she groaned and rolled her eyes. "He's such a schmuck."

She heard her phone buzzing, and knew it was the BAU calling but there was nothing she could do at the moment.

A few minutes later, Mac's phone rang. But his phone was in his shirt pocket, and his hands were against her back, sandwiched between their bodies surrounded by the large and slow moving serpent.

Five minutes later, "Hey Em!" It was Flack. "Your tech analyst, Garcia just called, she wants to know where ya at?"

"Donny, you know darn well what the hell is going on!" She was doing her best not to shout, and whisper shout was not as effective as loud screaming shoutings, and at this moment, the temptation to fling the snake at annoying New York detectives were uppermost in her mind!

"It's not worth it, Em." Mac said softly in her ear. "You'll get ulcers."

Flack called out, "I told her about your er, current curling snaky situation, and she didn't believe me...so will you two say snake?"

"Wha?"

Mac turned slightly, "Flack!"

But it was too late as Flack had taken a snapshot of them and sent it to Garcia.

"Done...and sent. Oh by the way...the snake people are on their way to take care of your snake." He informed the two.

"This is not my snake, Donny!" She snarled.

"Easy, honey...no sudden noise at Gertrude there...you might piss her off."

"Is that her name? Did the snake people inform you?"

He shrugged, "I dunno...she looks like a Gertrude."

"Oh my gosh, Flack...when this is over, I'm gonna murder you!"

He laughed at her. "Now, now, my love."

"I am not your love, Don Flack!"

"Ah, she is my Juliet! So sweet!"

"Okay, Romeo...keep it low...she's getting agitated, and the snake's sensing it." Mac was looking at the snake as it began to slither more around them. "It's moving again."

Flack turned to look at Mac and grinned, "I hear you, Mercurio, my bud."

"It's Mercutio, you idiot." Emily tried to glance sideways at him. "I take it, you flunk your Lit?"

Mac shook his head, "I think he slept through it in High School."

"Not even close." Flack grinned. "Cliff's notes, baby!"

"I knew it. You're such a cheat, and you can't even get it...oh shit!" Emily swore. "It's creeping up again, Mac!"

The boa was beginning to wrap itself around their midsections.

"Flack, where are the snake people?" Mac was getting mad. "The snake's gonna strangle both of us soon."

Flack was on the phone again.

"They're on their way, traffic's bad out there." Flack.

"I think we need to take action ourselves." Mac.

"But I don't want to piss the snake off, Mac." Emily called out, her voice sounded slightly strangled.

"Emily, if we don't do something soon, there won't be you or I left by the time they get here."

"What if it bites either of us?" Emily tried to shake her head. "My phone is ringing again. Flack, can you call my team?"

"On it, my delicate flower."

"It's no use, Emily." Mac uttered behind her. "He was dropped several times when he was an infant."

"That, I believe." She muttered.

"Emily my beautiful, your team has landed, and Hotch says they'll see you there when you've taken care of your ...er, serpentine problem."

"Oh great, more snarks." Emily sighed. "At least they're safe."

Mac frowned, "Umm, do you feel that?"

"What?" Emily tensed. "Wait, did you just cop a feel on my..."

"That's not me, I wouldn't do something, hey something just touch, oh...hey..."

"Oh, my gosh...I think there're more snakes!" Emily's eyes bulged out as wide as they could get.

"Flack!" Mac called out. "Gertrude just multiplied."

"Ah crap...there's more coming out of the rubble!" Flack called out as he shone his flashlight down by their feet. "Don't do anything."

"Where do you think we're going?" Emily called out.

Just then, they heard heavy footsteps, "Somebody called the WildLife Preservation?"

Mac and Emily, "The snake people!"

"Over here!" Flack called out as he waved as he walked to the group. "Boy, I hope you're ready for this..."

…...

Six hours later, at Feytown at the small local PD;

Mac Taylor was examining a couple of photographs that were of previous crime scenes,

Hotch was staring at Emily's neck, "Gertrude? Is that the snake?"

She glared at him, "I don't know! And it was not funny."

"Well, according to Det. Flack, it was a female, a rather large one, and she was attempting to find a nest ready to mate with a small male. By the way, did you know she weighed 80 pounds." Reid was repeating facts sent in by the Reptile WildLife Preservation in New York but Emily gave him an angry stare, effectively shutting him off.

"I didn't know it was a girl." She folded her hands across her chest.

"It was an Albino Boa Contrictor." Mac called out, his eyes still on the photos but he was grinning as well. "And there were five more other species with her."

"Gertrude, eh?" Morgan added. "That's one big Mamma."

"According to the Snake people," Mac continued. "Someone had left the cage unlocked, she must have slitthered out, and had been on the loose since. They estimated her to be about 5 years old, a juvenile."

"They can have and keep her for all I care."

"She looks cute." They heard Garcia on her screen.

"What?" Emily walked to her. "What're you talking about, PG?"

"Flack sent this...you two looked rather cozy." Garcia grinned.

It was a snapshot of Emily and Mac with the boa fully wrapped around them, her gun pointed out in the trashy alleyway.

"I think I will commit that murder on that sleazy..."

"I didn't hear you say that." Mac replied softly and picked up the pictures and turned to Hotch, "Look at this...do you recall seeing this item on the last crime scene?"

Hotch and the rest of the team gathered around Mac as they returned to the case.

…...

The End.

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Here's to all the Police, Firefighters,who had bravely fought and lost their lives that day 14 years ago. They are not forgotten!

I hope you enjoy this story.

I'll put this story in the CSI-NY/Criminal Minds Xover fanfic page as well.

I know yesterday was a sad day but we all need some cheeriness. Especially Mac Taylor, even though he's a fictional character. But he is a very dedicated one.

Gary Sinise, who played Mac Taylor, will be in the new Criminal Minds Spin-Off Beyond Borders! I'm looking forward to watching this new series!

Thank You all!

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10th Muse.


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